Criação Velha UNESCO Vineyards

Flemish settlers arrived on Pico in the 15th century and started growing Verdelho in bare volcanic basalt. They ferried soil from Faial by sailboat — one pocketful at a time — and poured it into holes drilled in lava. The reed palisade walls they built to block Atlantic gales, laid end to end, would circle the equator twice. UNESCO inscribed this landscape in 2004. When Czar Nicholas II was executed in 1917, bottles of Pico Verdelho were found in the Winter Palace cellars. The roots grow 30 meters through basalt until they reach saltwater caves — the salt in the wine is the ocean itself.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Walk the Walls of the World's Most Improbable Vineyard Adventure · Free

   Where: PR5PIC Vinhas da Criação Velha trail, starting at the Port of Calhau. Taxi from Madalena takes 10 minutes and costs €10-15 — every driver knows it. Walk east along the coastal trail toward Lajido.

   What: You are about to walk through something that took 500 years to build and shouldn't exist. There is no soil here — just black basalt lava rock. When Franciscan friar Frei Gigante planted the first Verdelho vines in 1450, he had soil ferried over from the neighboring island of Faial in small sailboats, one pocketful at a time, and poured into holes drilled in the bare rock. Then he tilted each vine at an angle so it grows along the ground instead of upright — the only way to survive the Atlantic winds. The result: a landscape of thousands of tiny stone-walled plots called currais, vines snaking flat across black volcanic rock, and walls so extensive that if you laid them end to end they'd circle the Earth twice.

   How: Walk slowly. The point isn't the distance (6.9 km, about 2 hours) — it's what you see when you stop. Crouch down and look at a vine. Notice how it grows horizontal, almost apologetically low, pressed against the warm basalt. Feel the wall beside it — this rock was stacked by hand with no mortar. Now look at Faial island across the channel, 6 km away, floating there in the Atlantic. Somewhere in that direction is where the soil for this vine came from. September visits catch harvest: grapes hang from the ground-level vines and you can sometimes join local pickers crossing the walls.

   Backup: If weather is severe (Pico's weather is famously unpredictable — bring a rain jacket regardless), the walk is still worthwhile. The dramatic black rock and crashing Atlantic actually intensify in bad weather. The trail is open year-round, no entry fee, never crowded.

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2. 2 Find the Groove Cut by 300 Years of Ox-Cart Wheels History · Free

   Where: Along the trail between the coastline and the stone walls, look at the basalt surface underfoot — specifically near old paths that cut through the vineyard plots toward the ocean.

   What: Pico's wine was once a global empire. In the early 19th century alone, 23,250 liters of late-harvest Verdelho were shipped to Russia — specifically to the port of St. Petersburg, for the Czarist court. The wine was brought from these vineyards to boats waiting on the rocky coast below. Two things made that journey: rola-pipas and relheiras. Rola-pipas are carved stone ramps, angled down toward the water, where workers slid wine barrels to the shoreline. Relheiras are the grooves you'll find worn into the lava rock — marks left by ox-cart wheels, the same path walked thousands of times over centuries. You are literally touching the route that the Czar's wine traveled.

   How: The relheiras look like parallel channels about 30-40cm apart, pressed into the hard basalt by sheer repetition. When you find them (trail signage points to them, or ask your taxi driver to point out the start), run your fingers along the groove. These weren't carved — they were worn in by iron wheels, slowly, over decades. The rola-pipas are nearby: carved stone slopes angled toward the sea. Stand at the top and look down: this was a logistics operation. Wine went from these vineyards to England, Germany, Russia, and America. When Czar Nicholas II was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1917, bottles of Pico Verdelho were found in the cellars of the Winter Palace.

   Backup: If you can't locate them independently, the trail is clearly signed (PR5PIC in red/yellow). Hire a guided half-day hike through Futurismo (futurismo.pt) — they specifically highlight the rola-pipas and relheiras and know where each one is.

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3. 3 Drink the Wine That Was Found in the Czar's Cellar Wine · Price: low

   Where: Centro de Interpretação da Paisagem da Cultura da Vinha, Lajido de Santa Luzia, São Roque do Pico — at the end of the Criação Velha trail, about 15 minutes walk from the trail's final section. Hours: April-October daily 9am-12:30pm and 1:30pm-6pm. Contact: +351 292 207 375.

   What: This small museum sits inside the UNESCO landscape you've just walked through. The €7 "Trip to the Lajido's Scents" experience includes a guided tour of the exhibition AND a glass of Lajido — the fortified Verdelho that is the direct descendant of what the Czars were drinking. Lajido is aged 15 years in old oak barrels. It tastes of candied orange, toasted almonds, toffee, and something you'll identify as the sea — a deep iodine note that comes partly from vine roots growing 30 meters down through the basalt until they reach saltwater caves below. In the Winter Palace cellar in 1917, Bolshevik soldiers found exactly this style of wine. They reportedly had no idea what they were holding. You do.

   How: Book 48 hours in advance (minimum required for guided tours): pnpico.culturadavinha@azores.gov.pt. Walk in to the free permanent exhibition without a reservation — it covers the full history of vine culture on Pico, from Frei Gigante's 1450 planting to the phylloxera catastrophe of 1872-1874 that wiped out 150 wine producers and caused a famine that drove mass emigration to Brazil. Then pay the €7 and ask for the guided tour + tasting. Hold up your glass of Lajido in front of the window looking out at the black walls and the Atlantic. This is the view the wine came from.

   Backup: If the guided tour isn't available, the free exhibition is worth 30 minutes on its own. Alternatively, buy a bottle of Lajido at Picowines in Madalena (€27-60 depending on vintage) and take it to the trail with you.

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4. 4 Taste the Dry Verdelho Where Its Roots Reach Saltwater Caves Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Picowines (Cooperativa Vitivinicola da Ilha do Pico), Avenida Padre Nunes da Rosa 29, Madalena — the cooperative that makes wine from most of the island's 987 UNESCO hectares. Book: enoturismo@picowines.com or +351 912 533 243. Tasting from €9 for 3 wines.

   What: You have now walked the landscape. You have seen how the vines grow — flat along bare volcanic rock, planted into holes drilled in basalt and filled with soil ferried from a neighboring island by boat. Now taste what that land produces as a dry table wine. Verdelho do Pico tastes like nowhere else on earth: passionfruit, pineapple, sea spray, oyster shell on the nose. In the mouth: tropical fruit in balance with a saline minerality that doesn't come from the air — it comes from 30-meter-deep roots reaching down through the basalt to saltwater caves below sea level. Drink it and taste the geology. The vines are pulling the ocean up through the rock.

   How: Ask specifically for the Basalto white (Picowines' top dry expression) and a fortified Lajido in the same tasting flight, so you experience both ends of what this grape can do. Tell them you walked the Criação Velha trail this morning — staff often respond with stories about specific vineyards in the UNESCO zone that supply these wines. The 40-minute tour in English covers the cooperative's history (they saved the grape after the 1990s revival, working with the same families whose ancestors built the currais). Price: ~€9 for a 3-wine tasting; up to 9 wines available.

   Backup: Azores Wine Company (Rua do Poço Velho, Cais do Mourato, Bandeiras, near Madalena) offers a 3-wine tasting for €50, open daily 2pm-6pm (May-Sept until 7pm). Winemaker António Maçanita has made Verdelho his life's work — their tasting room sits directly inside the UNESCO vineyard landscape with ocean views. Worth the price upgrade.

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5. 5 Earn the Lapas: Grilled Limpets with Verdelho at the Sea Wall Adventure · Price: low

   Where: O Ancoradouro restaurant, Areia Larga district, Madalena — at the southern end of town, near the oldest buildings, right where the Criação Velha trail effectively ends and connects back to Madalena. Open for lunch and dinner.

   What: After walking 6.9 km of UNESCO landscape, you've earned the meal that belongs here. Lapas are the limpets that cling to the same lava rock you've been walking on all morning — two varieties: lapa brava (orange, more intense) and lapa mansa (black, milder). They arrive at the table in their shells, sizzling in garlic, butter, and spicy pepper, with half a lemon and the smell of the Atlantic. This is what Pico people have eaten for 500 years. Order the cataplana O Ancoradouro if you're staying for a full meal: octopus, limpets, and prawns in tomato sauce — polvo e lapas, the two animals that share this volcanic coastline with the vines you just walked through.

   How: Order lapas first, always — they arrive fast and they set the mood. Ask for a glass of Verdelho branco to drink alongside them. The volcanic-mineral-saline profile of Verdelho is not an accident: it mirrors the sea-salt iodine taste of the lapas. They were made for each other by the same basalt geology. If you visited the Interpretation Centre and tried Lajido, compare it in your memory to what you're drinking now. One grape, two centuries apart in style.

   Backup: A Tasca O Petisca (also in Madalena) is a family-run alternative with excellent lapas and a loyal local clientele. Restaurante Ponta da Ilha on the eastern tip of the island (35-minute drive) is more remote and more local still — worth it if you're renting a car and continuing east.

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Insider tips

• 10 min drive from the wine museum

• Late afternoon light is magical - plan accordingly

• Wear sturdy shoes - lava rock is unforgiving